HealthBI tapped to help Arizona integrate behavioral and physical healthcare

It’s a new day for Arizonans covered under Medicaid, as the state boldly launches a healthcare model that has long been advocated for by providers. Beginning October 1st, the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS) officially enacted its Complete Care mandate, in which Medicaid managed plans in the state must join physical, behavioral health and community services together to treat all aspects of members’ healthcare needs. CareEmpower, the platform that enables value-based care at the provider practice level and is offered by HealthBI, a division of Equality Health, will coordinate care for a significant number of members in five of the seven Medicaid-managed plans under the new Complete Care model.

These plans include Banner-University Family Care Plan, Care1st Health Plan Arizona, Arizona Complete Health, Mercy Care, and UnitedHealthcare Community Plan. HealthBI’s CareEmpower will be the foundational care coordination technology for providers in the Equality Health Network, which in turn delivers culturally competent healthcare to members enrolled in Complete Care managed Medicaid plans.

The Arizona Medicaid agency deputy director, Jami Snyder, had this to say about HealthBI’s CareEmpower platform and Equality Health.

“Arizona is pioneering a new integrated health model that is poised to make a huge impact for Medicaid patients, including some of our most vulnerable and complex populations. At its core, this model brings together a tightly knit community care team of medical, behavioral, and social supports for our Medicaid members. Technology that enables the entire care team to collaborate and see the full picture of member health is central to this model’s success,” Snyder said.

An idealistic vision pairs with a pragmatic technology approach

68 percent of people with mental illnesses suffer from at least one chronic physical condition

20 percent of people with mental illness have a substance abuse disorder

A “Mortality Gap” exists in which people with mental illness often die decades younger than the general population

Arizona’s Medicaid agency is meeting this issue head on from a concerted, statewide focus. For several years now, the state agency has seen considerable success through incentivizing providers to integrate healthcare—and HealthBI’s care coordination technology has been the platform of choice for many of these providers.

Now, five AHCCCS plans will be using CareEmpower technology to coordinate care for over 1 million lives in Arizona alone. The platform helps providers and community resource managers coordinate care and services, and access the full picture of member health, including real-time hospital admission/discharge/transfer alerts and triggers from social determinants of health assessments. It also includes crucial support for providers to help them prove and meet their risk-based contracts under this new model of care.

CareEmpower is already the provider enablement technology for the nation’s largest payers, including Aetna, Anthem and UnitedHealth Group. Beyond Arizona, over 63,000 clinical sites are equipped to use this collaborative technology across every state to identify at-risk patients and the appropriate interventions, and to coordinate care plans with other providers.

Specific to Medicaid, CareEmpower actively manages Medicaid populations in over 20 states, with planned deployments in at least seven additional states in 2019.

To date, the CareEmpower operating model has been deployed to improve care for over 22 million lives.

“All eyes should be on Arizona as the state embarks on a historic undertaking to truly integrate physical and mental healthcare and community services. At HealthBI, we believe there should be no other way to care for every citizen. It’s why we founded the company over seven years ago—and we knew then that a collaborative approach would be essential. We’re proud to partner with Arizona’s Medicaid managed care plans to bring this vision to life,” said Scott McFarland, president, HealthBI.

About HealthBI

Headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona, HealthBI, a company of Equality Health, was created by a team of industry leaders and physicians to fill the need for solutions that enable providers and engage patients for better quality outcomes. By arming providers and payors with real time insights and a platform to seamlessly collaborate across organizations and care settings, HealthBI prevents patients from slipping through the cracks. Today, the company’s care management and care coordination platform for population health management is the most widely deployed in the nation—used in over 63,000 clinical sites across 50 states. HealthBI customers have reported results that span from a 25 percent decrease in 30 day re-admits to a nearly 300 percent improvement in closing gaps in patient care. To learn more about HealthBI, visit www.healthbi.com and follow HealthBI on Twitter and LinkedIn.